Process for producing lubricants containing water



Aug. 13, 1929. M. J. HEITMANN PROCESS FOR PRODUCING LUBRICANTS CONTAINING WATER Filed March 24, 1926 i i i i I atmospheres) through a distributing 45 with oil. It may be assum Patented Aug. 13, 1929. I I p 1 UNITED STATES, PATENT i -1,7z4f.os3 .orrlca.

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Application fled larch 24, 1988 Serial No. 8,111, and Germany April-11, 1925. I

The present invention relates to an im' proved process for theproduction of lubricants containing water and, according to this,

process, emulsions of lubricating oils are produced, .in a manner hereinafter to be described, from lubricating agents and aqueous liquids. It is already known to treat lubrieating oil with steam in vessels, rovided with apparatus for stirring and coo ing, and

.to make stable the emulsified lubricating oil produced through condensation of the steam mtroducedb.y adding protective colloids.

It is also known that by emulsifying highly viscous oils, the emulsions produced will re- '15 main stable for-some time without the addition of protective colloids. The spraying of lubricating oil in a finely divided state with steam into a. condensing chamber 1s also known.

Contrary to the processes known hitherto, according" to the proces'forming the subject-matter of the present invention, a stable emulsified lubricating oil of suilicient viscosity and with an aqueous liquid content is obtained by passing saturated or superheated steam or a gas orgases, under pressure into a body of lubricating oil and then adding tothe lubricating oil thus finely divided or broken up by the steam or gas,'a quantity,

of water sufiicient to impart the desired water content to the final emulsion. The'applica- -t-ion of-the steam or gas must be continued until a stable emulsion'is -produced. When h emulsified lubricating oil is produced in such to add protec- 'for protecting purposes et a very hi h water content can be obtaiiied if desired? In ca ing outv the aforesaid process, it

40 it convenient to introduce steam forinitial breaking up or finely dividing ofv the oil (preferably under a presure of about 6-8 into a vesel which isonl partially v edthat' the amount of water deposited in the oil through condensation of the steam amounts to about 15% (according to the conditions prevailing). and only after th i iabove, while still continuingto admit this manner the emulsification may for some time and then it is stop d. In efiect- By way of example, it may :be stated that I a very satisfactory lubricant may be produced from polymerized mineral oil or saponlfiable oil' and 50% condensate water and tap water, steam being introduced for emulsification purposes at a pressure of 1-2 atmospheres.

For the manufacture of lubricants contaming water, active gases may generally be used such as oxygen, hydrogen, air, etc, but also inactive gases such as nitrogen. The

gases orthe oil batch are not required to be preheated for the process of manufacturng emulsified oi-ls containing water, -a. work mg at indoor temperature and normal temperatures of fluid being suflicient. However, for producingemulsified solid fats by using Montan wax (about 36% relative to' the final emulsion) for the purposeof increasfor example consist'of 50% mineral oil (vis- I cosity 15 at 50 C.), 50%'tap water.

gas is used unheated and serves only todismtegrate and emulsify both liquids.- For the manufacture ofv an emulsified greasebymeansofagas'457o mineraloil (viscosity 10 at 50 0.), 5% Montan wax,

and 50% tap waterare for example used.

The whole mixture isheated com air until a temperature of-150 C. is obtained and is kept in agitation in described vessel-for twenty minutes. The'new proeem may. be advantageously Pr ducing emulsified solid used valso, even if their voltage-content is to be far firmusual. ,nuneral oil is preted-withsteamunder pressure;then water "infinclydiat ributedstateisalowlyintroduced ing the viscosity it is preferable to apply lgher temperatures of about -120 C.

bymeansof' from above while still introducing steam. After mixing has been eflected, the introduction of steam is continued until the stable emulsified lubricating oil with a high percentage of water has been produced.

The manufacture of emulsified solid greases in this way is not only new, but indeed constitutes a complete departure from ordinary methods. of manufacturing emul sified solid greases, due to the hitherto unknown possibility of incorporating any desired quantity of water with the solid grease and obtaining a stable emulsion by the simple process of the present invention. It has been proved that the n" w emulsified solid greases of high-water content are quite as good for lubricating purposes as those of lower water content which have been used hitherto.

In the foregoing description, for the sake of simplicity, only the use of steam under pressure is referred to. It is, however, a further feature of the present invention that instead of using saturated steam under pressure, superheated steam may be employed. The greater the pressure and the higher the degree of superheat the quicker is the temperature of the constituents raised and the quicker is a stable emulsion produced.

The applicant has also found that these results can be achieved not only with steam but also with compressed air and other gases which may or may not be condensible to form a constituent of the emulsion and which may be used cold or heated. When steam is not used for breaking up the lubricant, the quantity of water requisite for the emulsification can of course only be obtained by introducing water into the disintegrated oil, that is to say, none of the water content of .the resulting emulsion is water condensate. In this way, for instance, by using heated air only, first class solid greases may be produced.

The temperature and pressure of the disintegrating medium (whether stean'i or gas be employed for this purpose) may vary within wide limits but, by way of example, it may be mentioned that, for the treatment of lubricating oils of high boiling point and high flash point, temperatures of from 1fi0-300 C. have been successfully employed with pressures as high as 10 atmospheres.

An apparatus for carrying out the improved process is illustrated in the drawing wherein the figure is a view in elevation, partly in section, of such apparatus. In this illustration the emulsification vessel is shown at a, the steam distributing pipe is shown at b, with the outlets or nozzles 0; d is the .water tank and e the distributing pipe for the, Water.

\Vhat I claim to be new is:

1. A process for producing lubricants containing water, consisting in passing a single fundamental element gaseous fluid under pressure into a body of lubricating oil, and then adding to the lubricating oil thus finely divided or broken up by the gaseous fluid, a quantity of water suflicient to impart the desired water content to the final emulsion, application of the gaseous fluid being continued until a most stable emulsion of the oil and aqueous liquid has been produced.

2. A process as set forth in claim 1, in which the gaseous fluid is admitted adjacent the lower level of the oil and below the surface thereof, while the Water is added from above the surface of the oil.

3. The process of producing emulsified solid greases having a water-content corrsiderably higher than in solid greases, consisting in passing a single fundamental element gaseous fluid under pressure into a 'body of grease, and then adding to the grease thus treated, water in finely distributed state from above the body of grease while still introducing the gaseous fluid, and continuing such steps until a stable emulsion of high Water-content has been produced.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

MORITZ JOSEPH HEITMANN. 

